The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls
Ratings4
Average rating4.8
15
Ratings4
Average rating4.8
A bold and uncompromising feminist manifesto that shows women and girls how to defy, disrupt, and destroy the patriarchy by embracing the qualities they’ve been trained to avoid. Seizing upon the energy of the #MeToo movement, feminist activist Mona Eltahawy advocates a muscular, out-loud approach to teaching women and girls to harness their power through what she calls the “seven necessary sins” that women and girls are not supposed to commit: to be angry, ambitious, profane, violent, attention-seeking, lustful, and powerful. All the necessary “sins” that women and girls require to erupt. Eltahawy knows that the patriarchy is alive and well, and she is fed the hell up: Sexually assaulted during hajj at the age of fifteen. Groped on the dance floor of a night club in Montreal at fifty. Countless other injustices in the years between. Illuminating her call to action are stories of activists and ordinary women around the world—from South Africa to China, Nigeria to India, Bosnia to Egypt—who are tapping into their inner fury and crossing the lines of race, class, faith, and gender that make it so hard for marginalized women to be heard. Rather than teaching women and girls to survive the poisonous system they have found themselves in, Eltahawy arms them to dismantle it. Brilliant, bold, and energetic, The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls is a manifesto for all feminists in the fight against patriarchy.
Reviews with the most likes.
Mona Eltahawy gives her manifesto for feminism in a series of rage-filled chapters depicting seven necessary “sins” for women and girls. Eltahawy slams patriarchy and demands that her body is her own and her life is her own. The seven necessary sins allow women and girls to use their existing anger and destroy the patriarchal system in place that oppresses so many.
I didn't always follow the order and it seemed like some points were blended together and she made similar points in a few different places, however, I enjoyed the multi-cultural perspective and the urgency and rage that Eltahawy conveys beautifully.
